Comparison of the effects of microwave irradiation with different intensities on the biodegradability of sludge from the dairy- and meat-industry

Influence of deflocculation on microwave disintegration and anaerobic biodegradability of waste activated sludge

“…As shown in Table 3, it is evident that deflocculated sample was the most economical alternative with net (output-input) energy profits of 1915 kW h/tonne TS. Whereas in the case of flocculated sludge, the net energy and costs are negative, in which the energy gain could not compensate the energy consumption of the pretreatment; and this is similar to the previous studies (Beszédes et al, 2011;Saha et al, 2011;Houtmeyers et al, 2014). Thus, the deflocculated sample was found to be much more efficient compared to the flocculated sample, based on net energy.…”

Optimisation of a microwave pretreatment of wheat straw for methane production

“…A more efficient solubilisation is obtained at a higher temperature. This is similar with other studies (Beszédes et al, 2011;Eskicioglu et al, 2009) where the effect of microwave irradiation on the organic matter solubilisation and methane production from thickened waste-activated sludge was investigated using a temperature range of 50-175°C. Their results indicated a near linear correlation of the solubilisation profile with the applied temperature.…”

“…Similarly, Beszédes et al as well as Jackowiak et al also observed that microwave pre-treatments increase the COD solubilisation and the ratio of BOD5/COD of dairy-industry and meatprocessing sludge. After the microwave pretreatment, the total biogas production improved, and the microwave irradiation additionally decreased the initial lag-phase of anaerobic digestion (Beszédes et al, 2011;Jackowiak et al, 2011).…”

Application of physico-chemical pretreatment methods to enhance the sludge disintegration and subsequent anaerobic digestion: an up to date review

“…Similarly, VS/TS ratios of WAS increased from 8% (control) to 19, 21 and 32% after MW irradiation to 120, 150 and 175°C, respectively. According to Beszédes et al (2011), MW pretreatments of sludge (5 W/g and 1,800 s) increased the methane content of the biogas to 60% and enhanced the COD solubility, but the increase was limited to 57%. Zhou et al (2010) investigated the effect of MW irradiation (700 W, up to boiling point) on sludge disintegration and observed that MW significantly increased the SCOD (1.8-4.0-fold), soluble protein concentration (1.1-1.8-fold), and soluble carbohydrate concentration (3.2-14.1-fold).…”